Small plane crashes into trees in Va.

State police and federal authorities are investigating the crash of a small plane in Essex County.

Virginia State Police Sgt. Thomas J. Molnar says in a news release that the pilot and three male passengers weren't injured.

Molnar says the single-engine fixed-wing plane was traveling from Salisbury, Md., to the Hanover County Municipal Airport when the engine failed shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday.

The pilot, 54-year-old Paul B. Boulden of Mechanicsville, tried to land the 2006 Cirrus SR22 at the Tappahannock-Essex County Airport. But Molnar says the plane couldn't make it to that airport and crashed into several trees.

Molnar says Boulden deployed an airplane parachute system before the crash.

The passengers are from Richmond, Centerville and Glen Allen. Each man is 54 years old. Their names haven't been released.